photo by RPM 360
By: Dick Casey
Torrential rain forced the Drive Sober 125 from its Friday start to a Saturday afternoon green flag but the weather did not stop Eddie MacDonald from posting a fantastic second place finish in the K&N Pro Series East final season race. Rain washed out practice and qualifying so the field was set by the rulebook with Eddie Mac starting 23rd in the 31- car field. A pit lane penalty during the competition left the team wondering “What if” after the race.
The second place run was the Grimm Construction/Multiple Sclerosis Chevy driver’s best performance of the five races run in the series of the fourteen scheduled events. Eddie Mac scored two top tens, a sixth at Bristol and a ninth at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“This is one of my favorite tracks and to get a second place finish is great,” said Eddie Mac. “Of course being so close , it is a little disappointing not to get the win. We finished fourth last year and had the same set up in it plus we had the new body style and that made all the difference. Like everyone else I guess, the car was just a little tight but it handled pretty well. We had a penalty that probably hurt us. You never know but things could have turned out different.”
When the green flag finally started the race at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Eddie Mac began his move to the front and was in the 15th position when the yellow flag brought the field to the pits for a competition caution to check for tire wear. The teams were given an extra set of tires and when the air gun did not work properly, the crew had to torque the lug nuts by hand. NASCAR determined the #71 returned to the track ten seconds late and the penalty was given. Eddie Mac had to start tail on the longest line in the 26th position.
“It is really unfortunate we received the penalty because it sent us almost to the rear so I had to pass the same cars all over again,” said Eddie Mac. “Fortunately, the car was fast and I was able to make my way back through the field but obviously I would have preferred to restart fifteenth and go from there. I know we would have been in contention for the win sooner if we had.”
After the lap 26 restart Eddie Mac made steady progress going from 26th to 11th by the next caution flag on lap 40 and into 7th by the time the next yellow waved on lap 55. The halfway break yellow flag waved on lap 70 with Eddie Mac riding in the fourth position saying, “We just made a small adjustment to loosen the car up and that was all. We knew we had something for the leaders.”
Eddie Mac set his sights on series champion William Byron for third place and made the pass on lap 80 then began chasing down second place Rico Abreu saying, “Abreu was fast so it took quite a few laps to get by him. I was really faster on the bottom but I had to go outside to make the pass and finally got by him on lap 118. By that time Cabre was way ahead and with seven laps to go I wasn’t going to catch him. Finishing second on the track in this series is a great accomplishment and I am happy. To be able to run as well as we did with no practice with this new body is awesome. The crew did an exceptional job as always and Rollie (LaChance) and I are really thankful for their effort. Of course we could not do this without the support of Karla and Rob Grimm. We are proud to carry the National Multiple Sclerosis emblem on the car and hope everyone will support this organization. Thanks to all our fans for the tremendous support we have received.”
The Drive Sober 125 will be televised on NBCSN on October 6 at 4pm.